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Making the Training Stick
Training activities develop the potential capacity to act, coaching takes this potential capacity and sets it into action. This project will create a network of professional coaches to follow up development training projects, and make the training stick. Coaching takes place face-to-face, by phone, internet voip, email or even mobile phone and sms.
This project would: * set up and coordinate a data-base of coaches, by language and area of expertise, * inform development programs about the potential of add-on coaching to training to bring results, * promote add-on coaching to development training projects, * match coaches with in-coming requests by development training projects, * coordinate, oversee, get feedback, report back to head offices on the process and results achieved.
Group or individual coaching sessions via internet technology together with brief interventions via mobile phones to help people be accountable to their plans, enthuse and support as they work towards goals and explore just-in-time solutions to current obstacles. Coaching is not a great conversation nor training, mentoring or advising, but a specific methodology that supports and empowers behavioral change. Applying new knowledge and skills requires changes in behavior, and changing behavior requires shifts in brain activity new synapses must be built to rewire neurons for change. Only supported action, in small -- even very small but consistent -- steps over a period of time builds these new neuron highways.
I have access to professional coach associations, coach networks and a global virtual on-line professional coach certification program for project support.
making training stick
Great idea, but it would be even stronger if you could actually "coach the networks". A major lost opportunity is the failure to build out the networks that are created whenever you bring people together for training. If there could be ways to keep the cohort together and in contact after the training, they would naturally turn to each other in trying to recall information from the course(s), critiquing and expanding upon course materials, and helping each other work out what works and doesn't work. Peer to peer coaching could make a huge difference in capacity, provided that it was built into the system, including by design (with explicit training on networking and coaching). I recognize this is different than what you are proposing, but I can't help but think that the two approaches are highly complementary.
making the training stick
Thanks for the thoughtful comment and you are spot on. What comes to mind is twofold: Introducing the concept of peer to peer coaching and techniques during training courses -- which would mean training the trainer in coaching -- and then following-up with teleclasses for the trainees with a group coaching approach to support the peer coaching process. I love it. Might have to work on this one!